Let’s talk about history: Brujah

[Ascendency-Down]

Character histories allow your player character to be a bit more unique and to start with certain bonuses and penalties.They weren’t included in the original game, but can easily be activated. First, I’m going to compare and rate the possible histories selectable as a Brujah. The rest of the clans is going to follow in separate threads. Please feel free to comment, to correct or to name your favorite combos.

I’m using Wesp5’s unofficial patch 4.6 which changes some of the histories and reduces their number to seven for every starting character. I’m not sure how the unlocked histories are handled in the origial game or while using the “true” patch, but here most stat bonuses come in form of blue points instead of red. What distinguishes blue points (B) from normal red points (R)? Well, blue points don’t count when you pay XP to increase a skill, a discipline or an attribute.

Too abstract? Let’s compare a character starting with one red point in, for example, Stamina to another one with a history that adds two blue Stamina-points to his regular starting point:

Character without history:
R – 4 XP (for the second point) – 8 XP (for the third point) – 12 XP – 16 XP, which sums up to 40 XP to maximize Stamina.

Character with history:
R – B – B – 4 XP (for the fourth point) – 8 XP (for the fifth point) summing up to 12 XP.

Choosing this history just saved us 28 XP assuming that we wanted to get five points in Stamina. Of course, there are always more or less drastic disadvantages which have to be considered.

So, how do I rate? Simply put, the higher the XP-discount in useful abilities, attributes and disciplines the better. Yes, this is pretty much a powergamer point of view. Needless to say that I’m considering the various skill books and trainers.

My grades:
***** = history is significantly boosting any character build
**** = history is boosting most character builds
*** = history doesn’t make the player character much stronger/weaker or the advantages and disadvantages balance
** = history is weakening most character builds
* = history is significantly weakening any character build

But now let’s start with the Rabble...



BRUJAH (Physical – Mental – Social, Talents – Skills – Knowledge)

- True Brujah (male/female): Attribute order Mental – Physical – Social
No big change.
***

- Infomercial Huckster / Voyeur Website Model (male/female): Attribute order Social – Physical – Mental
Doesn’t change much.
***

- Special Forces (male): Ability order Skills – Talents – Knowledges
Brujah start with too many points in Talents for my taste (Due to the books and trainers it’s reasonable to put put no starting points in Dodge and just one point in Brawl, while Intimidate and Subterfuge aren’t that important.), so this is a small change to the better
****.

- Fixer (female): Ability order Talents – Knowledge – Skills
No big deal.
***

- Dropped As A Baby (male/female):
Advantages: Stamina +2
Disadvantages: Mental Attributes more expensive (n/a – 6 – 10 – 16 – 20)
If you plan to maximize Stamina, you pay 28 XP less. That’s pretty much and more than enough discount to invest a bit in Mental Attributes. Even if you raise Intelligence to 3 and Wits to 5, you still save 12 XP.
****

- Glass Eye (male/female):
Advantages: Intimidation +2
Disadvanatges: Max Perception of 3
Personally, I don’t consider Intimidation very useful, but in case you like it you can max it right at the beginning saving lots of XP.
***

- Quickling (male/female):
Advantages: Celerity lasts longer,
Disadvantages: Potence more expensive (n/a – 8 – 12 – 18 – 24)
Celerity is the most powerful Brujah-discipline, so this history is a decent choice if you don’t plan to rely on Potence much. Otherwise skip.
***

- Anti-Paladin (male/female):
Advantages: Melee +1, Presence cheaper (n/a – 4 – 8 – 12 – 16)
Disadvantages: Celerity more expensive (n/a – 8 – 12 – 18 – 24), Humanity -1
The higher Melee-skill is worth only 3 XP, since you can get the three last points from books and/or Nines. The cheaper Presence doesn’t compensate for the higher Celerity cost in my opinion.
**